Softball: Ohio Northern (21-9 Overall) hosts 2022 OAC Tournament

Friday-Sunday, May 6-8, 2022 - ONU Softball Field, Ada, Ohio 

| OAC Tournament Page | Tournament Program (.pdf) |

Tournament Preview: The Ohio Northern softball team is hosting the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament after winning the conference's Regular Season championship and earning the No. 1 seed for the tournament … Northern is making its 26th appearance in the OAC Tournament and is seeking its seventh conference tournament championship and second straight after winning the event at the No. 4 seed last season … The tournament is double-elimination format, and the winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament … If the tournament is shortened due to inclement weather, the winner of Game 3, which is a matchup between the winners of Game 1 and Game 2, receives the automatic bid ... If the tournament does not reach Game 3, ONU, as the No. 1 seed, would receive the automatic bid ... The NCAA Division III Selection Show airs Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com … The tournament opens with No. 2 seed Muskingum playing No. 3 seed Mount Union on Friday at 10 a.m. followed by ONU facing No. 4 seed Otterbein at approximately 12 p.m. … The winners of those games will then play at 2 p.m., and the losers will play an elimination game at 4 p.m. … The tournament continues with two games on Saturday and one game, if necessary, on Sunday … Northern seniors Stacey Walters and Lauren Renner are returning members from the 2021 All-Tournament Team … The Polar Bears earned the No. 1 seed this year after going 16-2 in conference play to win their 11th regular-season OAC title in program history … The regular-season title is ONU's first since 2014 … Northern has won 11 of its last 12 games coming off Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Heidelberg with wins of 6-3 and 2-1 … Freshman Ashley Lenser earned her first career save in Game 1 and pitched all 8 innings of Game 2 to improve to 10-2 on the season … Lenser was named OAC Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week after limiting opposing batters to a .118 average while allowing just 1 run on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 12 over 15 innings spanning 3 appearances … Lenser has an OAC-best 1.49 ERA, ranks fourth in the conference in wins and ninth in strikeouts (65) … Walters earned the win in Game 1 after allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6 over 6 innings … Sophomore Kaylie Griffin paced the ONU offense, going 5-for-7 at the plate with a home run, double and 3 RBIs … Through 30 games, Griffin leads ONU in batting average (.404), hits (36), runs (31), RBIs (23) and home runs (6) … Griffin ranks fourth in the OAC in home runs, is tied for fourth in runs and is sixth in batting average … Lenser (.333) and seniors Rachel Hish (.326) and Hannah Rubel (.315) are also hitting above .300 on the season … Hish ranks 31st on ONU's all-time hits list with 114, and senior Abby Elliott is tied for 32nd with 112 career hits … Junior Allie Bican ranks third in the OAC in ERA (1.95) … Walters ranks 10th all-time at ONU with 162 strikeouts, and Bican ranks 11th with 157 career strikeouts … Otterbein enters the postseason with a 23-11 record, including a 10-8 mark in the OAC … OU went 1-1 against Mount Union and 0-2 against both ONU and Muskingum this season … Savannah McCoppin (.356) and Caroline Heller (.348) lead the Cardinals in batting average … Hannah Lewis is batting .316 and has a team-best 28 RBIs and 4 home runs … In the circle, Bryn Grabowski is 6-3 with a 2.25 ERA and 84 strikeouts, and Jess Gunter is 6-5 with a 3.84 ERA and 62 strikeouts … Muskingum enters the postseason with a 30-10 record, including 14-4 in the OAC … MU went 2-0 against both Mount Union and Otterbein and split a pair of games against ONU … Haley Hawk (.408) and Katie Osburn (.380) lead the Muskies in batting average … Hawk and Sarah Piteo share the team lead in RBIs with 29, and Osburn has 28 … In the circle, Madelyn Thomas is 12-3 with a 2.11 ERA and 99 strikeouts, and Hannah Smith is 15-5 with a 2.66 ERA and 106 strikeouts … Mount Union enters the tournament with a record of 21-16-1, including an 11-6-1 mark in the OAC … The Purple Raiders were 1-1 against Otterbein and 0-2 against both ONU and Muskingum this season … Grace Heath (.452) and Payton Guspyt (.352) lead UMU in batting average … Heath has 9 doubles, 10 triples, 3 home runs and 22 RBIs … Alyssa Rose is batting .344 with 11 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs and 37 RBIs … Heath has an OAC-best 38 stolen bases … In the circle, Rose is 9-2 with a 2.28 ERA and 80 strikeouts, and Peyton Morrison is 7-3 with a 3.04 ERA and 59 strikeouts.

Ohio Northern Batting Leaders:

Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Otterbein by a 57-22 margin, including 22-11 at home and 4-1 in the OAC Tournament … ONU swept a doubleheader at Otterbein during the regular season with wins of 9-1 and 2-1 … Northern trails the all-time series with Muskingum by a 53-77 margin, including a 29-32 mark at home and 14-13 in the OAC Tournament … The teams split their doubleheader this season, as ONU won 5-0 in Game 1 and MU won 3-1 in Game 2 … Northern leads the all-time series with Mount Union by a 56-44-1 margin, including 27-21-1 at home and 6-8 in the OAC Tournament … ONU swept a doubleheader at Mount Union this season with wins of 3-2 and 5-3.

Head Coach Jackie Price: Price is in her sixth year at the helm of the Ohio Northern softball team … She is 132-73-1 at Ohio Northern, a winning percentage of .643.